All 104 James Bond Villains, Ranked

They say a James Bond movie is only as good as its villain. That's not always true—weak bad guys unwind fantastic Bond movies. Stellar villains elevate terrible installments. While England's top spy has gone head-to-head against a variety of foes, you can't deny that some have served as meatier adversaries as others. That's why we have to do what any Bond fan must do: rank every single James Bond villain in a big list.

There were a few ground rules that went into the making of this list. First, the character must have a name to be included. Second, that character must play some kind of role in the plot. Third, we could break either of those rules if we wanted to include someone worth writing about. There are a handful of villains missing from this list, but they were deemed ineligible for being a little too boring, a little too vague, or a little to removed from the focus of the movie. We still came out with 104 adversaries.

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104. Kra

Eon Productions

The Film:The Man With the Golden Gun

The Actor: Sonny Caldinez

The Basics: Wrong-place-in-the-wrong-time schmoe

Is Kra even a real henchmen? As the sole employee working in Scaramanga's massive lair, he could be just some guy who took the wrong job and got knocked into a vat of chemicals by the Worst Bond Girl Ever for his troubles.

103. Whisper

Eon Productions

The Film:Live and Let Die

The Actor: Earl Jolly Brown

The Basics: Overweight, incompetent henchman

In the middle of Live and Let Die's climax, James Bond unceremoniously locks Whisper in a metal cabinet, never to be seen or mentioned again. A fitting ending for a bumbling goon whose every action results in dismal failure.

102. Mr. Kil

Eon Productions

The Film:Die Another Day

The Actor: Lawrence Makoare

The Basics: Boring muscle with a desperate name

Someone forgot to tell Die Another Day that a great henchman needs more than goofy name. "Mr. Kil" being wasted on someone this forgettable is crime against Bond-dom.

101. Mr. Bullion

Keith HamshereGetty Images

The Film: The World is Not Enough

The Actor: Clifford "Goldie" Price

The Basics: Obnoxious traitor who contributes nothing

His name is a reference to his gold plated teeth and he's a traitor who turns on his employer. And thats about all there there is to Bullion. He feels like a pale attempt to resurrect fond memories of Jaws and Goldfinger, but doesn't have even a fraction of their panache.

100. Colonel Feyador

Eon Productions

The Film:The Living Daylights

The Actor: John Bowe

The Basics: Generic Soviet commander who exists just to dieThe Bond series is full of countless Russian generals who exist solely to scream orders and die in a fiery explosion. Colonel Feyador manages to be the most boring of the bunch.

99. Prof. Joe Butcher

Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock

The Film: Licence to Kill

The Actor: Wayne Newton

The Basics: Faux TV evangelist who fronts a drug ring

The name "Professor Joe Butcher" deserves so much more than Wayne freakin' Newton.

98. Edmund Slate

Eon Productions

The Film: Quantum of Solace

The Actor: Neil Jackson

The Basics: Walking plot device to get Bond from A to B

You probably don't remember Edmund Slate, who perishes in hand-to-hand combat with Bond in the worst-choreographed, worst-shot fight sequence in the Bond canon.

Hai Fait is the most thankless kind of Bond baddie. He exists solely so a superior villain can kill him, raising the stakes for the third act. Still, for an evil CEO who runs his own martial arts school, he's awfully forgettable.

96. Marco Sciarra

Eon/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

The Film:Spectre

The Actor: Alessandro Cremona

The Basics: Your typical pre-credits doomed adversary

This S.P.E.C.T.R.E. agent is nattily dressed for sure, but his half-baked scheme—to blow up a Mexico City stadium during a Day of the Dead celebration—is easily foiled by Bond before a quick fight has him falling to his death from a helicopter.

95. Zao

Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock

The Film: Die Another Day

The Actor: Rick Yune

The Basics: Very angry henchman with a very expensive injury

A deadly henchman whose faces has been wrecked by experimental plastic surgery and a bunch of explosion-propelled diamonds. Zao imbues the quirky, gimmick-driven henchmen of early installments with blockbuster fighting skills… which does not make him better.

94. Gabor

Eon Productions

The Film:The World is Not Enough

The Actor: John Seru

The Basics: Some guy who does some stuff

When Bond casually guns down Gabor during the climax of The World is Not Enough, you may remember that he is the villainous Elektra King's bodyguard. Technically he is ever-present throughout the film. Technically.

93. Vladimir Popov

Eon productions

The Film: Die Another Day

The Actor: Mikhail Gorevoy

The Basics: Low-rent Boris Grishenko

One part early-2000s hacker cliches, one part Eurotrash cliches, Vladimir is the creator of the "Icarus" device, the laser-shooting satellite that may be the most unnecessarily sci-fi Bond MacGuffin since the days of Moonraker. He gets sucked out of a plane.

92. Bert Saxby

Eon Productions

The Film:Diamonds Are Forever

The Actor: Bruce Cabot

The Basics: Turncoat corporate goon

Quite possibly the most incompetent henchman to ever work for arch-villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Bert Saxby bumbles his way through the Diamonds, only to be killed while failing to assassinate one of Bond's contacts.

91. General Medrano

Eon Productions

The Film: Quantum of Solace

The Actor: Joaquin Cosio

The Basics: Nasty military misogynist

Many Bond villains have unpleasant and grotesque sexual proclivities, but General Medrano is the only one whose chief adjective is "rapey." He provides a very specific kind of threat of the film's heroine and is one of the least fun villains in the entire series.

90. Adam

Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock

The Film: Live and Let Die

The Actor: Tommy Lane

The Basics: Barebones henchman who exists so action can happen

Adam's demise is a hoot—he dies in a fiery explosion at the end of a massive boat chase—but beyond that, he's a standard muscle. Not much to see here. Moving on.

89. Perez and Braun

Eon Productions

The Film:Licence to Kill

The Actors: Alejandro Bracho and Guy De Saint Cyr

The Basics: Two henchmen for the price of one

Same as #89, but in a fiery explosion at the end of a massive tanker truck chase.

88. Dambala

Eon Productions

The Film:Live and Let Die

The Actor: Michael Ebbin

The Basics: Diet Baron Samedi

A snake-wielding voodoo priest who meets the business end of Bond's revolver, Dambala is slightly racist and slightly creepy. Too bad he's in a movie with another, far more menacing Voodoo priest villain who steals his thunder. Don't you hate when that happens?

87. Scarpine

Danjaq/Eon/Ua/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

The Film: A View to a Kill

The Actor: Patrick Bauchau

The Basics: Boring bodyguard to a scene-stealing mad man

Christopher Walken ate all of the scenery in A View to a Kill, leaving nothing but crumbs for this poor, starving secondary henchman. He doesn't even get the dignity of fighting Bond.

86. Rosie Carver

Eon/Ua/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

The Film:Live and Let Die

The Actor: Gloria Hendry

The Basics: Incompetent CIA mole

It's actually super cool that Bond shows zero hesitation about sleeping with a black woman in 1973. The man was really ahead of his time in breaking the racial barrier (if it meant getting some). It's a shame that the traitor he seduces is so terrible at her job. Rosie one of the most bumbling villains of the Roger Moore era—and that's saying something.

85. Krilencu

Eon Productions

The Film: From Russia With Love

The Actor: Fred Haggerty

The Basics: Low-ranking S.P.E.C.T.R.E. goon

We don't see much of Krilencu, but the scene where Bond and an ally lure him out of the back of his hideout to execute him with a sniper rifle is one of the few scenes in the Bond series that can actually be described as "Hitchcockian."

84. Peter Franks

Eon Productions

The Film: Diamonds Are Forever

The Actor: Joe Robinson

The Basics: Diamond smuggling stooge

Peter Franks is Bond's way into a criminal organization. He is meat to be killed, an identityto be stolen. But his but his big fight-to-the-death with Bond in an elevator is solid stuff.

83. Sasha Davidov

Eon Productions

The Film: The World is Not Enough

The Actor: Ulrich Thomsen

The Basics: B-level traitor and plot device

The traitorous Davidov is the whipping boy of Renard, the main villain of The World is Not Enough. Forced to hold burning stones for his incompetence, his big scene of torture and pain is really there to display his boss' toughness. Bond kills him about five minutes later.

2. Clive

Eon Productions

The Film: Licence to Kill

The Actor: Eddie Edenfield

The Basics: Recipient of great one-liner

Clive murders Bond's buddy Sharkey and gleefully brags it afterward. Thus, Bond is forced to shoot him with a speargun and mutter "Compliments of Sharkey." It's a great ending for a non-character.

81. William Truman-Lodge

Eon Productions

The Film: Licence to Kill

The Actor: Anthony Starke

The Basics: Whiny, number-crunching criminal nerd

Licence to Kill is an '80s action movie through and through, which means it has room for a pencil-neck accountant who babbles about profit margins while Bond brings the down the organization around him. In the classic tradition of irritating minor 007 villains, his own employer takes him out of the picture.

80. Dr. Carl Mortner

Eon Productions

The Film:A View to a Kill

The Actor: Willoughby Gray

The Basics: Eccentric evil doctor type

A former Nazi scientist who built an insane Aryan superman (Christopher Walken) in a test tube should be far more interesting than this. Backstory can be a savior.

79. Bambi and Thumper

Archive PhotosGetty Images

The Film:Diamonds Are Forever

The Actors: Lola Larson and Trina Parks

The Basics: Inexplicable bodyguard duo

There are plenty of great female villains in the Bond canon, women who give Bond a run for the money in physical fights and psychological showdowns. These two are just T&A. Bambi and Thumper's impressive martial arts skills are undone the moment Bond lures them to the deep end of a swimming pool and dunks their heads underwater. Seriously.

78. Colonel Heller

Eon Productions

The Film:Licence to Kill

The Actor: Don Stroud

The Basics: Mid-tier henchman

Heller is a pretty basic henchman, but he does get impaled with a forklift.

77. Mr. Hinx

Eon/REX/Shutterstock

The Film:Spectre

The Actor: Dave Bautista

The Basics: An imposing, flame-retardant strong man

Working for S.P.E.C.T.R.E head Ernst Stavro Biofeld, Mr. Hinx is more impressive than your average henchman. He stalks Bond and his companion Madeleine Swann from Rome to Morocco, ultimately going head-to-head with the spy aboard a speeding train—which is where he meets his ultimate fate.

76. Pan Ho and Jenny Flex

Eon Productions

The Film: A View to a Kill

The Actors: Papillon Soo Soo and Alison Doody

The Basics: Henchwomen to the main henchwoman

Anyone who spends an entire movie flanking Grace Jones will be forgotten. Sorry. However, Jenny and Pan are noteworthy because their deaths spur the otherwise unflappable May Day to switch sides just in time to help save the day.

75. Jacques Bouvar

Michael Ochs ArchivesGetty Images

The Film: Thunderball

The Actor: Bob Simmons

The Basics: Cross-dressing S.P.E.C.T.R.E. agent

Bond attends the funeral of Bouvar, where he literally laments that he wasn't able to kill this guy himself. Then he realizes that this low-level baddie has disguised himself as his own widow. So Bond murders him with a fire poker and flees the scene on a jetpack.

74. Patrice

Danjaq/Eon Productions/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

The Film: Skyfall

The Actor: Ola Rapace

The Basics: Professional assassin

Patrice is not a particularly layered character, though he's the key antagonist in two terrific action scenes.. The stunning cold open of Skyfall, where Bond and Moneypenny pursue him through a Turkish city and onto a speeding train, is later topped by Bond's grappling struggle with him on a Shanghai skyscraper.

73. Dr. Ladislav Kutze

Eon Productions

The Film: Thunderball

The Actor: George Pravda

The Basics: Nuclear physicist; S.P.E.C.T.R.E. lackey

Kutze is a background villain, the guy who actually gets the nuclear weapons ready while the guys up top decide where to place his handiwork. However, he's the rare Bond villain to have a change of heart, switching sides during the climax and helping 007 save the day. Bond returns the favor by pushing him off a speeding boat after he's informed our hero he doesn't know how to swim.

72. Ed Killifer

Eon Productions

The Film:License to Kill

The Actor: Everett McGill

The Basics: Back-stabbing bastard; real sonuvabitch

A DEA agent and supposed buddy of Bond ally Felix Leiter, Killifer turns traitor on his organization for financial gain. He gets a briefcase full of money for his trouble while Felix gets lowered into a shark tank by a vicious drug cartel. Bond, being Bond, feeds Killifer to that same shark. Never trust a guy named Killifer.

71. Apostis

Eon Productions

The Film: For Your Eyes Only

The Actor: Jack Klaff

The Basics: Surprisingly competent henchman

He may not be as memorable as other, more colorful baddies, but Apostis is the rare henchman who rarely screws up. In his final confrontation with Bond, he almost sends 007 tumbling off a cliff. Quick thinking on the part of our hero sends this Adam Driver lookalike tumbling down instead.

70. Adolph Gettler

Eon Productions

The Film: Casino Royale

The Actor: Richard Sammel

The Basics: Sudden, convenient third-act villain

Casino Royale dispatches its main villain surprisingly early in the story, so the grand finale has to pull of a new antagonist out of nowhere to give Bond someone to kill. Gettler's name is never actually mentioned out loud in the film, but even without much of a character, he's a surprisingly effective fill-in. A memorable look (one glasses lens is mysteriously blacked out) and a memorable death (nail gun to the face) go a a long way.

69. Fisher

Eon Productions

The Film: Casino Royale

The Actor: Darwin Shaw

The Basics: Daniel Craig's first kill

Remember that intense fight scene that opens Casino Royale? This guy.

68. Dryden

Eon Productions

The Film: Casino Royale

The Actor: Malcolm Sinclair

The Basics: Daniel Craig's second kill

Remember that intense conversation that intercuts with that intense fight scene that opens Casino Royale? This guy.

67. Henry Gupta

Eon Productions

The Film: Tomorrow Never Dies

The Actor: Ricky Jay

The Basics: A "techno-terrorist," which sounded awfully cool in 1997

Casting magician Ricky Jay in any movie is a sign of good (or at least interesting) taste. But why cast him as a computer genius who sits around in the background while the main villains do their thing? Why isn't he constantly doing card tricks and baffling Bond with slight of hand? Jay lends life to a third-tier villain, but what a waste!

66. Mr. Jones

Eon Productions

The Film:Dr. No

The Actor: Reginald Carter

The Basics: Template henchman

Mr. Jones is a basic bitch. He pretends to be a driver, only to attack when he thinks this suave British agent least suspects it. But Bond never "least suspects" anything and kicks his ass. However, before he can be interrogated, Mr. Jones kills himself with cyanide hidden in a cigarette. Standard stuff. Nothing to it. Expect that Mr. Jones is the first villain Bond ever fights in the first Bond movie. He may not be much, but he gets serious points for historical significance.

65. Miranda Frost

Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock

The Film:Die Another Day

The Actor: Rosamund Pike

The Basics: Traitorous MI6 agent and champion Olympian

Once upon a time, Rosamund Pike was the second lead villain in one of the worst James Bond movies. A less talented actress would have let this cliche-ridden character swallow her whole. But Rosamund Pike is a force. There's more than a little Gone Girl in Die Another Day.

64. Sandor

Eon Productions

The Film: The Spy Who Loved Me

The Actor: Milton Reid

The Basics: Adequate muscle; Jaws handler

The stocky, bald-headed Sandor is originally introduced as one half of a henchman partnership. Unfortunately for him, his henching buddy is the far more interesting, steel-toothed Jaws, who overshadows him in every way. Still, Sandor gets a good fight scene with with Bond and his death is a rare moment of Sean Connery-level harshness in a Roger Moore film.

63. Dominic Greene

Mgm/Columbia/Eon/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

The Film: Quantum of Solace

The Actor: Mathieu Amalric

The Basics: Water-stealing Eurotrash maniac

In a streamlined, fully-envisioned film, Mathieu Amalric could have played a great Bond villain. Instead, he's pretty good, lending some fairly entertaining sleaze to a thinly sketched megalomaniac whose evil scheme is as uninspiring as the rest of Quantum of Solace.

62. General Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov

Keith HamshereGetty Images

The Film: GoldenEye

The Actor: Gottfried John

The Basics: Better-than-most Soviet Commander villain

General Ourumov gets points for being instrumental in a the creation of a far superior villain. He doubles those points by having the perfect reaction to Bond barreling through the streets of St. Petersburg in a stolen tank.

61. Claus

Danjaq/Eon/Ua/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

The Film: For Your Eyes Only

The Actor: Charles Dance

The Basics: Henchman who always pays his debts

Did you know that a Game of Thrones' Charles Dance played an anonymous Bond villain? He did! That trivia is, unfortunately, more interesting than anything else about Claus. But hey: Charles Dance. Good actor.

60. Mischka and Grischka

Danjaq/Eon/Ua/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

The Film: Octopussy

The Actor: David Meyer and Tony Meyer

The Basics: Circus knife-throwers turned professional murderers

The circus scenes in Octopussy ride a fine line between thrilling and ludicrous (James Bond going undercover as a clown, anyone?), but these two twin brothers totally work in context. Of course two guys who spend all day, every day learning how to throw bladed instruments would make serviceable adversaries for 007.

59. Nick Nack

Sunset BoulevardGetty Images

The Film: The Man With the Golden Gun

The Actor: Herve Villechaize

The Basics: Dedicated and diminutive manservant

If Herve Villechaize wasn't such a spirited performer, Nick Nack would be near the bottom of this list. The loyal right hand to Francisco Scaramanga, he spends the bulk of The Man With the Golden Gun going above and beyond the call of duty, even attempting to avenge his deceased employer in an extended, unnecessary, and hugely embarrassing epilogue. He may be at the center of one of the worst Bond movies, but Villechaize makes it watchable.

58. Hugo Drax

Sunset BoulevardGetty Images

The Film: Moonraker

The Actor: Michael Lonsdale

The Basics: Space-loving billionaire psycho

Hugo Drax's entire scheme involves hanging out on a space station with a bunch of sexy people while chemical weapons kill everybody else on the planet. The man has dreams. He also gets a killer line worthy of a much more interesting bad guy: "Look after Mr. Bond. See that some harm comes to him."

57. Miss Taro

LMPCGetty Images

The Film: Dr. No

The Actor: Zena Marshall

The Basics: Iconic Bond seductress

Miss Taro is the first Bond villainess to use her sexuality as a weapon. When Bond's your opponent, that comes in handy. Things don't work out well for Taro—007 sleeps with her, then hands her over to authorities in a rare moment of not being a totally trigger-happy sociopath—but she's memorable enough, setting the standard for countless other professional seductresses to follow.

56. Colonel Moon/Gustav Graves

Eon Productions, Shutterstock

The Film:Die Another Day

The Actor: Toby Stephens and Will Yun Lee

The Basics: Sadistic North Korean maniac plastic surgery'd into a sadistic, English maniac

The idea of an evil North Korean Colonel faking his death and transforming himself into a world-renowned British billionaire with enough business successes to build a laser-blasting satellite is ridiculous. Unlike the rest of the awful movie surrounding the character, he's just ridiculous enough.

55. Chang

AF archive/Alamy

The Film:Moonraker

The Actor: Toshiba Suga

The Basics: Mute henchman; really good at murder

In a movie filled with spaceships and lasers and science fiction tomfoolery, Chang is a refreshing blast of old school Bond henchmanship. He's calculating and cold. The scene where he executes a character using trained guard dogs is one of the harshest moments in any James Bond movie. He deserved better than death-by-piano.

54. Carlos

Eon Productions

The Film: Casino Royale

The Actor: Caludio Santamaria

The Basics: Terrorist-for-hire

Carlos is a random who Bond purses across Miami International Airport in a chase scene so thrilling and packed with surprises that you just have forgive him for not having much to offer. Entire Bond movies offer less dynamic action than this one scene. Good job, Carlos.

53. Dr. Kananga/Mr. Big

Sunset BoulevardGetty Images

The Film: Live and Let Die

The Actor: Yaphet Kotto

The Basics: Caribbean dictator with a hand in the New York City soul food/heroin scenes

One on hand: a vaguely racist villain who feels like a cringe-worthy collection of cliches. On the other hand: badass Yaphet Kotto. Like so many other Bond villains, Kananga is charming and ruthless, but it's his superstitious ways, how he lets his religious beliefs drive his every decision, that separate him from the pack.

52. Boris Grishenko

Keith HamshereGetty Images

The Film: GoldenEye

The Actor: Alan Cumming

The Basics: Typical '90s hacker

The first James Bond movie of the '90s just had to feature a hacker. Boris is better than most. Played with eccentric glee by a pre-fame Alan Cumming, he helped bring the "physically ineffectual, super-smart minor Bond henchman" into a new era.

51. Dario

Sunset BoulevardGetty Images

The Film: Licence to Kill

The Actor: Benicio del Toro

The Basics: Disquieting lunatic with an all-black wardrobe

A lot of people could have played Dario as written: a menacing but one-note thug who murders by command and has a great time doing it. But a baby-faced Benicio del Toro (in his second feature film role) brings him a rare menace that's uncommon in this kind of minor henchman. He's legitimately scary for a guy who ultimately gets pushed into an industrial cocaine grinder by a quipping British secret agent.

50. Professor RJ Dent

Danjaq/Eon/Ua/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

The Film: Dr. No

The Actor: Anthony Dawson

The Basics: S.P.E.C.T.R.E. toadie who bites off more than he can chew

Professor Dent is a medium talent in the espionage game (he tries to assassinate Bond with a tarantula of all things), but Dr. No's main man on Jamaica is the central figure in one of the series' most definitive scenes. Sent to kill Agent 007 in his sleep, he empties his gun into a few pillows under a sheet… only for Bond to reveal himself, Walter PPK at the ready. Dent takes aim at his target and fires, but his gun clicks empty. "That's a Smith and Wesson," Bond says, "And you've had your six." He then coldly executes his now-harmless assailant. Everything that defines the Connery era, the Dalton era, and the Craig era, is present right here. Thanks, Professor Dent.

49. Naomi

Danjaq/Eon/Ua/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

The Film: The Spy Who Loved Me

The Actor: Caroline Munro

The Basics: Scantily clad helicopter pilot, tour guide, and assassin

Look, sometimes all a James Bond movie needs is a gorgeous henchwoman chasing Bond in a helicopter while wearing nothing but a bikini. Bonus points for Bond using his submarine-car to blow her out of the sky with a well-timed missile.

48. Karl Stromberg

Sunset BoulevardGetty Images

The Film:The Spy Who Loved Me

The Actor: Curt Jurgens

The Basics: Ocean-loving, submarine-stealing wacko

The Spy Who Loved Me originally planned to bring Blofeld and S.P.E.C.T.R.E. back into play. Instead, they settled for a photocopy of Bond's most famous adversary – a criminal mastermind with a secret base, a master plan to start World War III, and a whole bunch of trapdoors that send disagreeable people directly to a shark tank. That's cool and all, but it doesn't change the fact that Stromberg is just a riff on another villain and his own thing. Still, a good riff.

47. General Orlov

Michael Ochs ArchivesGetty Images

The Film: Octopussy

The Actor: Steven Berkoff

The Basics: Psychotic Soviet Command villain

Out of all the Russian military officers Bond has faced over the years, General Orlov is easily the craziest. His plot to detonate a nuclear weapon in Europe to soften the continent for a total invasion is struck down by the rest of the Soviet military, but that only makes him try harder! He'll fund the plot himself, using stolen Faberge eggs! This is a looney character played with looney perfection in one of the looniest James Bond movies. All of Bond's stodgier military adversaries could use an injection of megalomania.

46. Steven Obanno

Eon Productions

The Film: Casino Royale

The Actor: Isaach De Bankole

The Basics: Machete-wielding warlord with a debt to collect

Steven Obanno, one of Casino Royale's many minor villains, is vicious warlord who loans money to the wrong terrorist financier. He ventures to Montenegro to collect (and he will collect—he brought a machete and few henchmen) and finds himself in a cramped stairwell with Bond and Vesper. The result: a highlight in a film with many highlights. Obanno may not be the most complicated adversary, but he's scary and real and his throwdown with Bond is a doozy.

45. Kamal Khan

Sunset BoulevardGetty Images

The Film: Octopussy

The Actor: Louis Jourdan

The Basics: Exiled prince; rich asshole

Khan isn't just the kind of guy who's totally cool letting Europe get burnt to the ground in the fires of nuclear war. He's also the kind of guy who abandons his allies in the blast radiance. He's a total snob, a level ten douchebag…and never quite as good as the sum of his parts. Why does this guy want to turn the Cold War hot? He's perfectly fine and memorable enough, but it's a shame his evil scheme never feels personal enough.

44. Milton Krest

Eon Productions

The Film: Licence to Kill

The Actor: Anthony Zerbe

The Basics: Grumpy warehouse owner and drug smuggler

James Bond frames Milton Krest for stealing from the organization, so his boss sticks him in a decompression chamber until his head explodes. It's a "Holy shit" scene, elevating Krest to the level of "minor henchman worth remembering."

43. Emilio Largo

Archive PhotosGetty Images

The Film:Thunderball

The Actor: Adolfo Celi

The Basics: S.P.E.C.T.R.E. agent Number 2, head of the Extortion division

Put Emilio Largo in a line-up of Bond movie super villains and he wouldn't stand out. His evil plan isn't the craziest. His defining physical trait (an eyepatch) isn't that unique. He's mild-mannered and doesn't get too many extravagant chances to show off his evil ways. But he's good. He's bread-and-butter, meat-and-potatoes Bond villainy. He comes in, gets the job done, and exits without embarrassing anyone. That's the kind of guy who gets promoted to the number two job at any company—even S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Unfortunately, that doesn't make him immune to getting shot in the back with a speargun.

42. Mr. White

Mgm/Columbia/Eon/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

The Film: Casino Royale,Quantum of Solace, Spectre

The Actor: Jesper Christensen

The Basics: The guy who knows a guy

Mr. White represents Quantum, the organization pulling the strings behind the scenes of Daniel Craig's run as James Bond. He's the glue connecting the newest movies and his cold, managerial style perfectly embodies their grim and realistic tone. His connection to S.P.E.C.T.R.E. is better left unmentioned.

41. Hans

Danjaq/Eon/Ua/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

The Film: You Only Live Twice

The Actor: Ronald Rich

The Basics: Blofeld's Aryan nightmare of a bodyguard

While Blofeld flees his volcano lair during the climax of You Only Live Twice, he leaves his personal bodyguard behind to tie up any loose ends. Since those loose ends involve destroying an American spacecraft, Bond gets in his way, leading to a lengthy fist-fight between 007 and this massive, mute heavy. As a character, Hans doesn't offer much. As an obstacle, he's terrific. Plus, Bond knocks him into a pool of Piranhas and says "Bon appetit!" That's just great.

40. General Georgi Koskov

Sunset BoulevardGetty Images

The Film: The Living Daylights

The Actor: Jeroen Krabbe

The Basics: Smarmy Soviet traitor turned smarmy MI6 traitor

A nasty Soviet General who defects to the west just so he can fake his kidnapping as part of a plot to play both sides of the Cold War against one another, Koskov is a real asshole. Charming and good looking, he's the kind of guy who wins you over with a smile right before he stabs you in the back. He's easily the best member of the "slimy Soviet officers" brigade.

39. Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd

Jack KayGetty Images

The Film:Diamonds Are Forever

The Actor: Bruce Glover and Putter Smith

The Basics: Not-so-ambiguously gay hitmen

Wint and Kidd are what the kids these days like to call "problematic." They're vicious, sadistic assassins who enjoy their murderous work very much…and they're totally a couple. They hold hands stroll off into the sunset after killing a man. Wint is seen putting in women's perfume. Kidd says that one female character is good looking "for a lady," earning a look of disgust from his partner. Although the film doesn't treat them like mincing stereotypes, it's not the most sensitive portrayal of a gay partnership. And yet, what must have been a "Haha, look at the queers!" joke in 1971 feels weirdly progressive now. Their sexuality isn't a plot point, it's just a thing, background color for two characters who just so happen to be in a seemingly happy partnership. In the creative desert that is Diamonds Are Forever (arguably the worst Bond movie of them all), they represent something totally unique and worth talking about, even if they take a match to political correctness.

38. Gobinda

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The Film: Octopussy

The Actor: Kabir Bedi

The Basics: Absurdly loyal henchman and bodyguard

Here's another Bond henchman cut from familiar cloth: towering, silent, and introduced with an act of extreme physical power (he crushes a pair of dice into dust). And while Gobinda's loyalty to Kamal Khan is generally unquestioned, he has just enough deadpan personality to bump him up the list. When Khan notices that Bond is clinging to the wing of their plane in mid-air, he instructs his right-hand-man to go get him. The look of Gobinda's face as he reluctantly follows orders is wonderful.

37. Morzeny

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The Film:From Russia With Love

The Actor: Walter Gotell

The Basics: Teacher from hell

As the head instructor of the training facilities on S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Island, Morzeny is pretty much the Evil Dumbledore of Super Villain Hogwarts. His screen time is limited, but the way he casually guides guests through classrooms and training facilities full of men and women readying themselves to battle the forces of good paints him as a total expert in the art of being an evil badass. It's a shame that he never gets a proper showdown with Bond and dies in a boat explosion. He would have been a fun character to keep around for a few movies.

36. The Three Blind Mice

Eon Productions

The Film: Dr. No

The Actors: Eric Coverly, Charles Edghill, and Henry Lopez

The Basics: A trio of assassins who pose as blind beggars

Noteworthy for being the first Bond villains we see on screen, these three putter around Jamaica pretending to be blind so they can sneak up on their victims and pump them full of lead. One of their hits brings Bond into the plot. He returns the favor by sending them driving off a cliff to a fiery death. "I think they were on their way to a funeral," Bond quips.

35. Helga Brandt

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The Film: You Only Live Twice

The Actor: Karin Dor

The Basics: S.P.E.C.T.R.E. agent Number 11

Ranked high enough in the S.P.E.C.T.R.E. hierarchy to report directly to Blofeld himself, but not high enough to avoid a piranha pool death sentence for messing up a job, Helga Brandt is middle management. She's the one who goes out and gets her hands dirty, taking on every thankless task thrown her way. You Only Live Twice presents her as a perfectly capable employee in massive criminal entity run like a corporation—she's an effective cog in an effective machine. The only problem is that this is an organization where your boss kills you when you screw up one too many times. This series could use a few more villains like Brandt: folks who are just doing a tough job for a thankless employer.

34. Tov Kronsteen

Eon Productions

The Film:From Russia With Love

The Actor: Vladek Sheybal

The Basics: Chess master and overconfident S.P.E.C.T.R.E. agent

Kronsteen is the S.P.E.C.T.R.E. employee assigned to deal with the James Bond problem after the events of Dr. No. When told not to underestimate the job, he deadpans "Who is Bond compared to Kronsteen?" We know the answer to that question; Bond earns a couple dozen more movies and Kronsteen's own people execute him for failing miserably. But the agent remains one of the most memorable snobs in the entire Bond canon. In just a few scenes, he leaves a lasting impression.

33. Erich Kriegler

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The Film: For Your Eyes Only

The Actor: John Wyman

The Basics: KGB agent and winter sports enthusiast

Kriegler "…doesn't smoke, only eats health foods, and won't even talk to girls." But he is an impressive athlete who uses his skills to compete in biathlons and try to kill James Bond. There are many physically intimidating, blonde-haired, henchmen-of-few-words across these movies, but Kriegler has own unique flavor.

32. Grunther

Eon Productions

The Film: On Her Majesty's Secret Service

The Actor: Yuri Borienko

The Basics: Perfectly reliable muscle

Grunther is the Emilio Largo of henchmen: he shows up, gets the job done, and does it well. There's not much flair here, but his character services the film perfectly. Most importantly, he gives Diana Rigg's Tracy (the best Bond heroine of them all) a terrific action beat, allowing her to do her part rather than sitting around and waiting to get rescued. Thanks, Grunther!

31. Vargas

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The Film: Thunderball

The Actor: Philip Locke

The Basics: Strong, silent type; professional killer

Vargas' boss, Emilio Largo, sums up his main henchmen in a conversation with Bond: "Vargas does not drink. Does not smoke. Does not make love. What do you do, Vargas?" Vargas is one of the creepiest minor Bond villains, a guy whose total devotion to his job is evident in every scene. Philip Locke isn't as physically imposing as many of his peers, but he has one of the most interesting faces of any character to ever menace James Bond. You can always see the gears turning behind his intelligent eyes, making him a far cry from the dumb brutes who usually play this role. All of that side: Bond kills with a harpoon and then says "I think he got the point," so that's all that really matters.

30. Elektra King

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The Film: The World is Not Enough

The Actor: Sophie Marceau

The Basics: Manipulative oil heiress

The World is Not Enough is home to one of the most embarrassing Bond heroines (Denise Richards' Dr. Christmas Jones), but it also features one of the best female villains. Sophie Marceau brings real pathos to this scorned, vengeful woman. Unlike most turncoats in this series, motivated by a big mountain of cash, Elektra uses her abduction as a young woman to take control of her own life, seducing her terrorist captor and using her newfound influence to rebel against her family. A lot of actresses could have played the villainous mastermind, but Marceau makes her evil actions so human.

29. Alex Dimitrios

Eon Productions

The Film: Casino Royale

The Actor: Simon Abkarian

The Basics: Bad poker player, worse husband

We only know Alex Dimitrios for his final few hours, but his life kinda' sucks. He loses his car to James Bond in a poker game. Then James Bond sleeps with his wife. And then James Bond stabs him to death in the middle of a crowded museum in one of the most quietly intense scenes in any Bond film. Once again, Casino Royale makes a minor villain memorable by building an incredible scene around him. We remember Dimitrios and his general assholery because his final showdown with Bond is goddamn great.

28. Mr. Stamper

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The Film: Tomorrow Never Dies

The Actor: Gotz Otto

The Basics: Amateur torture enthusiast

Stamper is another in the long line of musclebound Aryan villains who do whatever they're told by evil megalomaniacs. What makes him special is just how personally he takes everything. When Bond kills Dr. Kaufman (see below), his mentor in the art of torture, he's legitimately bummed to have lost a good friend. When Bond kills Elliot Carver, his employer, his rage drives him pursue Bond to the bitter end, even though he's no longer getting a paycheck for his efforts. He may be the only series henchman who yells the names of Bond's victims to his face while he beats the shit out of him. Stamper really is a special guy.

27. Dr. Kaufman

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The Film: Tomorrow Never Dies

The Actor: Vincent Schiavelli

The Basics: In-demand assassin; professional torture enthusiast

Dr. Kaufman only has a single scene in Tomorrow Never Dies, but it's a doozy. Hired to kill Bond and stage it like a suicide, he holds his prey at gunpoint and delivers a long speech about what a talented killer he is. Kaufman never wanted for his work! He's exceptionally good at faking overdoses! It's a riveting and darkly funny scene, performed perfectly by Schiavelli. Dr. Kaufman is so fully formed within a few minutes and it's a shame that Bond quickly outwits him and turns the tables. "I'm just a professional doing a job," Kaufman sputters. "So am I," Bond replies right before putting a bullet in his head.

26. Mollaka

Eon Productions

The Film:Casino Royale

The Actor: Sebastian Foucan

The Basics: Bombmaker; free-runner

Only the most die-hard James Bond fans can tell you his name, but Mollaka is a central figure in the Holy Shit action scene in the entire series. Ask someone to pick their favorite action scene in Casino Royale and they'll probably name the sequence where Bond pursues that parkour expert terrorist up, through, and over a construction site. Well, Mollaka is the guy he's chasing and Sebastian Foucan's astonishing physicality makes most henchmen in these movies—any movies—look downright lazy.

25. Emile Leopold Locque

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The Film: For Your Eyes Only

The Actor: Michael Gothard

The Basics: Four-eyed, shifty psychopath

For Your Eyes Only spends the first half of its running time pretending that the merciless killing machine Locque is its main villain, so his relatively early death comes as as surprise. Still, it's telling that this henchman feels like he could easily be the Big Bad of the whole film. One of the more realistic sociopaths to ever haunt a Bond film, he gels perfectly with this entry's more grounded tone. His murder of Countess Lisl (with a dune buggy, of all things) is dark stuff – he's no joke. Bond doesn't even think twice about kicking him off a cliff to his death. Good riddance.

24. Le Chiffre

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The Film:Casino Royale

The Actor: Mads Mikkelsen

The Basics: International terrorist financier; Sad sack

The saddest and most ineffectual of all the Bond villains, Le Chiffre is noteworthy because he's a desperately trying to make up for a huge misfire when Bond goes in for the kill. This is no mastermind with a scheme that needs to be thwarted—he's just a desperate man taking desperate measures to save his life. Building a Bond film around an antagonist who is a cornered, wounded animal feels as radical as Daniel Craig putting a truly human face on 007. The only thing keeping Le Chiffre from ranking higher is how the film disposes of him way too early, denying the character the climax he deserves.

23. Baron Samedi

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The Film: Live and Let Die

The Actor: Geoffrey Holder

The Basics: Immortal Voodoo god and/or theatrical henchman

One of the most famous Bond villains is also one of the most mysterious and ill-defined. We never learn if Baron Samedi is an impressive showman who dresses like a mystical figure powered by dark forces or if he's just some dude who knows how to strike fear into the hearts of the superstitious. For a character so iconic, Samedi actually doesn't get much to do in Live and Let Die. He mostly hangs around the fringes, acting as the menacing jester in Dr. Kananga's court. And yet he leaves an impression. Even though he dies (tossed into a coffin full of venomous snakes!), the film's last shot features him alive and well, laughing maniacally on the front of the train carrying Bond away to his next adventure. He's good enough, scary enough, in his few scenes that he looms large in our minds, defining a film that he's barely in.

22. Renard

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The Film: The World is Not Enough

The Actor: Robert Carlyle

The Basics: Uncomfortably numb anarchist terrorist

Renard is built around a gimmick that feels torn straight from the silliest Bond movies: a severe brain injury has shut down his nerves and he cannot feel pain. But Carlyle refuses to play him as a joke. Few Bond villains have suffered like this guy. His rawness transcends the on-paper silliness. Here is a guy who knows that the bullet in his head will eventually kill him, but he also knows that this same wound has made him superhuman and he's going to use that to his advantage. Every mission is a suicide mission because he's not afraid to die and his love for Elektra King has given him something to die for. He'd be tragic if he wasn't such an asshole.

21. Tee-Hee Johnson

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The Film: Live and Let Die

The Actor: Julius Harris

The Basics: Metal-armed, crocodile wrangler

Everyone remembers Baron Samedi, but no one talks about the superior henchman in Live and Let Die. Tee-Hee has far more to do than his vaguely supernatural comrade and he does it in style. Always dressed to the nines, he's the easily amused right hand of Dr. Kananga, doing all of the heavy lifting in their drug-smuggling operation. So it's only appropriate that his right hand was bitten off by an crocodile and he's replaced it with a metal prosthetic, complete with deadly pincer. Even when he's stranding Bond in the middle of an alligator-infested pond or trying to murder him in the film's action-packed epilogue, he exudes good (if dark) humor and folksy wisdom. He's the kind of henchman you'd want to chat with in a bar if he wasn't trying to kill you.

20. Necros

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The Film: The Living Daylights

The Actor: Andreas Wisniewski, dubbed by Kerry Shale

The Basics: Pop music loving master of disguise

At a glance, Necros is just another blonde-haired assassin. But this is a guy who strangles a milkman with Walkman headphones, poses as the milkman, infiltrates a top-secret government meeting, kills dozens of trained agents and bodyguards using explosive milk bottles (!), and kidnaps a high-priority target, all while listening to "Where Has Everybody Gone?" by The Pretenders. This motherfucker kills one of Bond's buddies with rigged automatic doors and leaves a taunting message on a ballon. He's shockingly capable. All of this comes before his stunning final fight with Bond, where they dangle out the back of plane from a loose cargo net. That fight is one of the best practical stunt sequences in the entire series and it's the only scene crazy enough to kill off a badass like Necros.

19. Elliot Carver

Jay Maidment/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

The Film: Tomorrow Never Dies

The Actor: Jonathan Pryce

The Basics: News tycoon; greedy jackass

Tomorrow Never Dies doesn't get enough credit for having one of the looniest master villain plots in the entire series. Media tycoon Elliot Carver wants to orchestrate World War III not because he has a political motive, but because his countless newspapers and television shows would benefit from that kind of dramatic world event. And since he's causing the whole thing, he'll always have the juicy, inside scoop. It's total insanity and Jonathan Pryce is a hoot, taking his performance up to eleven and delivering the goofiest Bond villain since the '70s. He dies appropriately: torn apart by the razor-sharp, remote-controlled torpedo he somehow had the resources to build.

Jaws

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The Film: The Spy Who Loved Me,Moonraker

The Actor: Richard Kiel

The Basics: Metal-mouthed assassin

"His name's Jaws. He kills people." That's all you really need to know about Karl Stromberg's number one man in the field. Towering over most of his victims, this 7' 3" assassin possesses super-strength and metallic razor teeth that allow him to bite through most materials, although he frequently uses them to rip open jugulars and such. Fortunately for Bond, Jaws' brain is about as dull as his teeth are sharp. Watching our secret agent hero find ways to counter his absurdly powerful opponent makes for some of the best scenes in The Spy Who Loved Me. He may not speak, but Kiel gives him a surprising amount of personality – he's just a big goofball with one single, unpleasant talent. Unfortunately, Jaws returned for Moonraker, where he was defanged and transformed into bumbling comic relief, even getting an out-of-character heroic turn in the climax. The Bond series went out of its way to sabotage one of its best villains. His first appearance is strong enough to salvage the whole thing.

17. May Day

Nancy MoranGetty Images

The Film:A View to a Kill

The Actor: Grace Jones

The Basics: Grace Jones does her thing, just in a Bond movie

Model and singer Grace Jones was destined to play an absurd Bond villain – no human being has ever appeared more comfortable defying the norm. A View to a Kill may be a lesser Bond film, but it knows good and well that casting Jones as a lead henchman who commands an all-female security team and putting her in a series of outrageous outfits is a fine idea. The fact that she apparently has super-strength and can literally lift grown men over her head the cherry on this totally insane sundae. Interestingly, May Day is one of the few truly great Bond villains to have a last-minute change of heart. Abandoned by her employer and lover, she dies saving the American computer industry. Thanks, May Day!

16. Brad Whitaker

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The Film: The Living Daylights

The Actor: Joe Don Baker

The Basics: Arms-dealing military reject; AmericanThere is one thing that separates Brad Whitaker from the vast majority of his villainous company on this list: he's American. With the exception of a few henchmen, Bond's adversaries tend to hail from every nation except the United States. This makes him unique and worthy of consideration…especially since he's such an American. While other villainous lairs are filled with fine art, Whitaker's Tangier mansion is full of toys and guns. His home is a museum honoring war, complete with wax figures of Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun, and Hitler (all modeled to look like him). He's loud, obnoxious, and crass, played with sleazy southern charm by Joe Don Baker. He may have been kicked out of West Point, but hey, the arms dealing business has given him access to all the guns and violence he could possibly want. Bond ultimately crushes him with a statue of the Duke of Wellington, a fitting end for a memorable blowhard.

15. Irma Bunt

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The Film:On Her Majesty's Secret Service

The Actor: Ilse Steppat

The Basics: S.P.E.C.T.R.E. agent; Blofeld's personal assistant

ma Bunt gets away with it. In the closing moments of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, she leans out the passenger window of a car driven by Bond's arch-nemesis, Blofeld, and opens fire with a machine gun. Bond survives the attack, but his new wife, Tracy, does not. Yes, the henchwoman who kills James Bond's wife does not get punished for her crimes. Her character doesn't even show up in future films. She's effective before those final moments as a harsh disciplinarian who follows her employer's orders without hesitation and leads fellow henchmen like a born commander, but it's those final moments that seal the deal. There is no retribution. There is only Bond at his most broken and human. To this day, she is the only villain to have actually beaten Agent 007.

14. Aristotle Kristatos

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The Film: For Your Eyes Only

The Actor: Julian Glover

The Basics: Strangely familiar smuggler

Julian Glover has quietly embedded himself into popular culture like no other actor. He was a villain in The Empire Strikes Back, a villain in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and he's currently a villain on Game of Thrones. So of course he found time play a James Bond villain and Aristotle Kristatos in a strong one. After the over-the-top lunacy of Moonraker, Kristatos was the Bond franchise's deliberate attempt to bring things down a notch or two and it works. Here is a villain who exudes all of the necessary menace while keeping both feet planted firmly on the ground. He's a straightforward villain, a traitor who's out to sell stolen military tech to the Russians, and Glover's performance forces us to take him seriously. If we're going to praise the wacky villains with absurd schemes, it's necessary to praise the low-key baddies who deliver actual, functional drama.

13. Franz Sanchez

The Film: Licence to Kill

The Actor: Robert Davi

The Basics: Your not-so-friendly neighborhood drug baron

Licence to Kill represents the Bond series aping the common '80s action movie i.e. 007 had to face down the head of a South American drug cartel. While Franz Sanchez may be a fairly boilerplate Scarface riff, he's played with exceptional charm and menace by the great character actor, Robert Davi. Capable of feeding a man to shark in one scene and offering honest gratitude and friendship in the next, he's the rare 007 villain to showcase some real human layers. As Bond infiltrates his organization (and steadily convinces him to kill off his own people), you never doubt that his misplaced trust and love for his new British ally is genuine. You kinda' like Sanchez! Not enough to feel bad when Bond lights him on fire and calmly lets him burn to death, but enough to feel invested in whatever he's doing. In the rare pre-Daniel Craig movie that takes its characters personal issues seriously, that's vital.

13. Franz Sanchez

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The Film: Licence to Kill

The Actor: Robert Davi

The Basics: Your not-so-friendly neighborhood drug baron

Licence to Kill represents the Bond series aping the common '80s action movie i.e. 007 had to face down the head of a South American drug cartel. While Franz Sanchez may be a fairly boilerplate Scarface riff, he's played with exceptional charm and menace by the great character actor, Robert Davi. Capable of feeding a man to shark in one scene and offering honest gratitude and friendship in the next, he's the rare 007 villain to showcase some real human layers. As Bond infiltrates his organization (and steadily convinces him to kill off his own people), you never doubt that his misplaced trust and love for his new British ally is genuine. You kinda' like Sanchez! Not enough to feel bad when Bond lights him on fire and calmly lets him burn to death, but enough to feel invested in whatever he's doing. In the rare pre-Daniel Craig movie that takes its characters personal issues seriously, that's vital.

12. Xenia Onatopp

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The Film:GoldenEye

The Actor: Famke Janssen

The Basics: S&M flavored, steel-thighed assassin

No beating around the bush here: Famke Janseen is incredible in GoldenEye, taking a silly character and creating someone that's both heart-stoppingly attractive and legitimately terrifying. Don't let the eye-roll of a name fool you—this is one of the best henchpersons in all of Bond-dom. Whether she's seducing important men and murdering them with her thighs or visibly orgasming as she guns down dozens of innocent people, Xenia is the perfect blend of serious and silly. With one foot in the Bond films of yore and one foot in the Bond films to come, she represents the perfect balance of two distinct worlds. The frequently glum henchmen populating the Craig films could learn a thing or two from her menacing theatricality.

11. Max Zorin

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The Film:A View to a Kill

The Actor: Christopher Walken

The Basics: Nazi experiment turned American industrialist

Christopher Walken, dressing up as David Bowie, represents the second greatest disparity between great villain and bad film. Max Zorin is a tremendous Bond psychopath, the result of Nazi experiments to create the perfect Aryan superman. It worked: Zorin is highly intelligent and capable of outthinking anyone who tries to oppose him. The side effects just include him being more than a little insane and remorseless and casually cruel. In a film where Bond looks like he's old enough to retire and the villainous plot literally doesn't make sense, Walken's performance is a breath of fresh air. Each of his scenes is full of just enough lunatic joy to keep you watching. A View to a Kill lives and dies with Max Zorin because James Bond himself certainly isn't up to the task. Walken even grants life to Zorin's dull death scene. As he realizes that he's lost and is about to plunge to his death from the Golden Gate Bridge, all he can do is giggle at the absurdity of it all.

10. Dr. Julius No

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The Film: Dr. No

The Actor: Joseph Wiseman

The Basics: S.P.E.C.T.R.E. agent Number 8

The first major Bond villain set the standard and established the cliches. He's a snobby intellectual (a genius scientist), with an elaborate lair (an island fortress), and a strange disfigurement (robot hands). He has an army of henchmen willing to die for his cause, which involves taking control of an American rocket launch. The film saves his reveal for the third act and it feels like a proper event when we get to meet him…and he manages to live up to the hype. Dr. No is the most pure of the 007 megalomaniacs. Fresh and untouched by expectations, he's allowed to simply exist in a way that his successors cannot. Even today, he remains a wonderful adversary, played with the perfect blend of ego and viciousness by Joseph Wiseman.

9. Raoul Silva

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The Film:Skyfall

The Actor: Javier Bardem

The Basics: Mutilated, vengeful mirror of Bond himself

Although he's only the third best of the "evil versions of 007" that sprung up over the years, Silva is the definitive villain of the Craig era. Sure, he feels constructed out of spare parts left lying around from other recent movie villains (Heath Ledger's Joker, Benedict Cumberbatch's Khan, etc), but Javier Bardem gives the parts the perfect polish. Played with unhinged, eccentric anger, Silva is a Bond villain for the 21st century. He's a tragic monster, a sympathetic villain driven by personal hatred and rage, not world domination. He's also the first baddie to challenge Bond to a game of gay chicken…and Bond makes it a draw. Here is a brave new villain for a brave new world.

8. Rosa Klebb

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The Film: From Russia With Love

The Actor: Lotte Lenya

The Basics: S.P.E.C.T.R.E. agent Number 3

Although Blofeld lurks in the shadows throughout From Russia With Love, it's Rosa Klebb who calls all of the direct shots, making her the first (and so far, only) solo female mastermind villain in the series. Everyone answers to her, no questions asked. As the third highest ranking member of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. and a Russian double agent, she plays puppeteer to players on every side of the Cold War, placing allies and enemies alike exactly where she wants them. If James Bond's magic penis hadn't converted her main agent over to the side of tea, martinis, and Democracy, her plan to steal a top-secret decoding machine would have succeeded with flying colors. Hell, if not for that same agent shooting her, she would have murdered James Bond with a poisoned knife hidden in the toe of her shoe. Klebb, foiled only by circumstance, is among the most competent Bond villains.

7. Ernst Stavro Blofeld

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The Film: From Russia With Love, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, For Your Eyes Only, and Spectre

All roads eventually lead to Blofeld. The mastermind of S.P.E.C.T.R.E., Bond's arch-nemesis casts a large shadow over the Sean Connery and George Lazenby eras. First introduced as the mysterious and unseen overlord giving marching orders to all of Bond's villains, he eventually meets 007 face-to-face. He's a bald, hideously scarred, and crazy about his fluffy white cat. When he shows up again, the scars are gone and he's more laid-back, genial menace with a fluffy white cat. When he shows up again, he's grown hair and has become a hopelessly generic bore with a fluffy white cat. When he makes a brief cameo in the Roger Moore era, he's a silly cartoon character who goes down easily… but at least he's bald and has a fluffy white cat. Being a Bond fan means coming to terms with the fact that 007's arch-nemesis, his most famous villain, the bane of his existence and the man who helped murder his wife, is only effective about 50% of the time. Still, he's impossible to ignore since he's the glue that holds the early films together in a loose continuity and his impact on popular culture cannot be overstated (Donald Pleasence's take on the character directly inspired Dr. Evil). Since every actor has a different take on Blofeld, he's impossible to pin down and impossible to fully appreciate. He's less of a character and more of a vessel for different performers to riff as a Bond villain. Whether he's a deranged psycho, a practical businessman, a hammy oddball, or something else entirely depends on the movie you're watching. Blofeld is too important to ignore, but too inconsistent to warrant ranking any higher.

6. Fiona Volpe

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The Film: Thunderball

The Actor: Luciana Paluzzi

The Basics: On-staff S.P.E.C.T.R.E. assassin

Volpe is a S.P.E.C.T.R.E. jack-of-all-trades. Need her to seduce a pilot to secure the theft of a few nukes? She's on it. Need her to murder a big-mouthed former associated using a missile-launching motorcycle? Just give her the keys. Here is the most confident of all the Bond henchwomen, a total professional who beds Bond, lures him into a trap, and then drops this gem while holding him at gunpoint: "James Bond, the one [who] has to make love to a woman, and she starts to hear heavenly choirs singing. She repents, and turns to the side of right and virtue...but not this one!" And then she stamps on his foot for good measure. Volpe ultimately does meet her end, but not before Bond is wounded, cornered, and nearly finished for good on her watch. What a woman.

5. Auric Goldfinger

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The Film: Goldfinger

The Actor: Gert Frobe, dubbed by Michael Collins

The Basics: Gold-loving weirdo

When it comes to Bond villain notoriety, Goldfinger has an unfair advantage. His name is the title of the movie and iconic theme song everyone likes to screech. His most famous line ("No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!") is one of the most memorable quotes from any movie. More people know Goldfinger than anyone else in this list. But here's the thing: he's so very, very good, earning every ounce of his infamy. There is nothing slick about Goldfinger. He's just a grotesque, greedy, ugly little bastard who has enough money to build a laser, hire an entire fleet of pilots, and stage a raid on Fort Knox so he can nuke America's gold supply to increase the value of his own stash. What an odd plan. What an odd, petty, dumb, genuinely kind of amazing plan! Goldfinger is the kind of guy who puts together a massive presentation detailing every aspect of his scheme, assembles an audience of elite criminals, tells them every excruciating detail of his plan…and then gasses them to death. Why? Why did he go through all of the trouble and build all of those little models just to kill his audience? The only answer: being a horrible human being is just Goldfinger's hobby.

4. Oddjob

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The Film:Goldfinger

The Actor: Harold Sakata

The Basics: The ultimate henchman; bowler hat enthusiast

Every cinematic henchman since 1964 owes a debt to Hardol Sakata's Oddjob. Auric Goldfinger's mute, impossibly strong, and even more impossibly loyal henchman set the standard. This is the guy you measure all movie muscle against. Oddjob works because he's just a straightforward, unflinching opponent. Bond only takes him down by thinking on his feet. In a one-on-one fistfight, he gets his ass completely and thoroughly kicked. But it's Oddjob's collection of little quirks that elevate him from hyper-competent enforcer to something special. It's his occasional smiles of smug satisfaction. It's how he's always dressed so impeccably. It's how his bowler hat is lined with a razor that can decapitate statues when thrown. Everything about this guy is famous and he's famous for a reason.

3. Alec Trevelyan

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The Film: GoldenEye

The Actor: Sean Bean

The Basics: Scarred, vengeful mirror of Bond himself

GoldenEye remains one of the biggest miracles in the entire Bond series because it proved the character could escape the confines of the Cold War. However, Pierce Brosnan's first film as 007 was wise to leave some noticeable scars from the decades-long conflict on nearly every character. Chief among them is Alec Trevelyan, the former Agent 006, a villain whose origin story is directly tied to him being a casualty of the lengthy shadow war that Bond survived. Left for dead by 007 at the end of a disastrous mission, 006 re-emerges, hideously scarred and embittered and ready to wreck the systems that let him down. If that means taking his former partner down along the way, all the better. Sean Bean makes Trevelyan the rare Bond mastermind who is both a physical and psychological threat. He's haunted, angry, and not afraid to get his hands dirty. His skills as a soldier mark him as a Mirror Universe version of Bond himself. You can imagine a timeline where 007 was left behind with a bullet in his face and 006 would race to stop him from using a powerful satellite to instigate armageddon. Like the best Bond villains, he knows just how to cut to the bone, telling our favorite spy: "I might as well ask you if all those vodka martinis ever silence the screams of all the men you've killed. Or if you find forgiveness in the arms of all those willing women for all the dead ones you failed to protect." And in true Sean Bean style, he dies by plummeting 100 feet onto hard concrete. Then a gigantic antenna array falls on him.

2. Francisco Scaramanga

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The Film: The Man With the Golden Gun

The Actor: Christopher Lee

The Basics: Professional hitman who only needs one bullet

Here it is: the greatest disparity between the quality of a villain and the quality of James Bond movie. The Man With the Golden Gun is an unbearable mess filled with awful jokes and characters. It might as well be an episode of James Bond Jr.. It's a wall-to-wall disaster…except for Francisco Scaramanga, the titular "Man with the Golden Gun." A professional assassin who wields a weapon made out of solid gold (and prides himself on finishing any job with a single shot), Scaramanga is debonair and ruthless. If they weren't trying to kill each other, he and 007 could easily bond over their various conquests while sipping martinis in a swanky bar. The great Christopher Lee built much of his legacy by delivering tremendous performances in terrible films, but this may be the ultimate great performance in a bad movie. Lee carries a lifetime of experience into this part and you can detect new sides of Scaramanga in every glance, every smirk. The soldier, the lover, the monster, the theatrical showman, the egotistical professional who has made a career out of death. Lee was a gift to the Bond films and it's the shame that he had to carry an entire lousy film on his shoulders.

1. Donald "Red" Grant

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The Film: From Russia With Love

The Actor: Robert Shaw

The Basics: Icy, brilliant, evil mirror of Bond himself

"Red" Grant is a S.P.E.C.T.R.E. soldier, a standout in the agents on S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Island who has been specifically training to counteract 007 himself. And he's good. Really, really good. The great Robert Shaw remains one of the few actors in the series to actually match Sean Connery's steely toughness and we recognize Bond's ugliest traits in Grant. He's an accomplished liar and killer capable of absorbing punishment. He can effortlessly slide between high society engagements and ruthless battles to the death. He's terrifying. We look at him the same way a average S.P.E.C.T.R.E. agent may look at James Bond. His final fight with Bond is one of the great battles in the series: two men enter a train compartment, one man leaves. It's one of the only times we ever fear for the safety of the seemingly invincible 007.

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